When Brand Fans Share, What's the Upside?

Major brands, especially in the high-emotional, high-spend auto sector, have tons of fans on social. Getting them to share the positives about a brand and its vehicles is key to strategy. It means
the best kind of reach. But what happens when they do take action? A study from social platform ShareThis -- which has a presence on about 2 million publisher sites and 120 social channels -- suggests, among other things, that owners who share have huge
influence.

The report raked through 4 months of data from some 13 million users logging 49 million auto-related sharing events. ShareThis said the study monitored more
than 11 million ad impressions from a selection of campaigns run by major automotive brands over one month to understand the impact of advertising on sharers.

Per the
findings, consumers ages 36 to 55 are the most active auto sharers and users of all ages in market for a new vehicle -- based on formal inquiries online about one or more brands, quote requests, or
questionnaire responses -- are 10 times more likely to share about autos, and twice as likely to share about brands when they are interested in purchasing them. They are also half a percent more
likely to share about a brand if they own one of the brand's cars. And the study says owners who share about a brand they own are 43% more influential than non-owners.

Also,
the more premium the brand, the more influential the share, per the study: Shares mentioning luxury vehicles drew 70% more click-backs than those related to mass-market or economy segments. On
average, each luxury share garnered about 30 click-backs. Economy-category shares garnered about 11.

The study found that delivering ads to users who share online about cars
is three times more likely to generate brand inquiries.

Over a four-month period based on 13 million uniques, the study found that 65% of people used Facebook to share about
cars. The rest was split among email, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and Blogger. Ford, Chrysler and Toyota were the most-shared brands. Mustang, Dodge Durango and Nissan Quest were the most shared-about
models.